Trans fatty acids in tumor development and the host survival.

Because trans fatty acids exist in the American diet and their relationship to cancer incidence has been proposed, studies were designed to investigate their possible role in the development of Ehrlich tumor cells in inbred CBA mice. Feeding elaidic acid (18:1 delta 9, trans) to Ehrlich ascites tumor-bearing animals resulted in tumors that incorporated more thymidine into their cells and into their acid-insoluble fraction as compared with those grown in animals fed the natural oleic acid (18:1 delta 3, cis)-rich diet. Elaidic acid diet feeding at 5% in the diet also resulted in a reduction in the host survival rate. This reduction ranged from 23 to 45%.